CHAPTER XI. LABRAN'S JOURNEY

It is then Fergus of the True Lips set out again and went through the
length of Ireland till he came to the house of Tadg, son of Nuada, that
was grandfather to Finn.

And there was great grief on Muirne, Finn's mother, and on Labran of the
Long Hand her brother, and on all her people, when they knew the great
danger he was in. And Tadg asked his wife who did she think would escape
with their lives from the great fighting at the White Strand. "It is a
pity the way they are there," said she; "for if all the living men of
the world were on one side, Daire Donn, the King of the World, would put
them all down; for there are no weapons in the world that will ever be
reddened on him. And on the night he was born, the smith of the Fomor
made a shield and a sword, and it is in the prophecy that he will fall
by no other arms but those. And it is to the King of the Country of the
Fair Men he gave them to keep, and it is with him they are now." "If
that is so," said Tadg, "you might be able to get help for Finn, son of
Cumhal, the only son of your daughter. And bid Labran Lamfada to go and
ask those weapons of him," he said. "Do not be asking me," said she, "to
go against Daire Donn that was brought up in my father's house." But
after they had talked for a while, they went out on the lawn, and they
sent Labran looking for the weapons in the shape of a great eagle.

And he went on from sea to sea, till at noon on the morrow he came to
the dun of the King of the Country of the Fair Men; and he went in his
own shape to the dun and saluted the king, and the king bade him
welcome, and asked him to stop with him for a while. "There is a thing I
want more than that," said Labran, "for the wife of a champion of the
Fianna has given me her love, and I cannot get her without fighting for
her; and it is the loan of that sword and that shield you have in your
keeping I am come asking now," he said.

There were seven rooms, now, in the king's house that opened into one
another, and on the first door was one lock, and on the second two
locks, and so on to the door of the last room that had seven locks; and
it was in that the sword and the shield that were made by the smith of
the Fomor were kept. And they were brought out and were given to Labran,
and stalks of luck were put with them, and they were bound together with
shield straps.

Then Labran of the Long Hand went back across the seas again, and he
reached his father's dun between the crowing of the cock and the full
light of day; and the weakness of death came on him. "It is a good
message you are after doing, my son," said Tadg, "and no one ever went
that far in so short a time as yourself." "It is little profit that is
to me," said Labran, "for I am not able to bring them to Finn in time
for the fight to-morrow."

But just at that time one of Tadg's people saw Aedh, son of Aebinn, that
was as quick as the wind over a plain till the middle of every day, and
after that, there was no man quicker than he was. "You are come at a
good time," said Tadg. And with that he gave him the sword and the
shield to bring to Finn for the battle.

So Aedh, son of Aebinn, went with the swiftness of a hare or of a fawn
or a swallow, till at the rising of the day on the morrow he came to the
White Strand. And just at that time Fergus of the True Lips was rousing
up the Fianna for the great fight, and it is what he said: "Fianna of
Ireland," he said, "if there was the length of seven days in one day,
you would have work to fill it now; for there never was and there never
will be done in Ireland a day's work like the work of to-day."

Then the Fianna of Ireland rose up, and they saw Aedh, son of Aebinn,
coming towards them with his quick running, and Finn asked news from
him. "It is from the dun of Tadg, son of Nuada, I am come," he said,
"and it is to yourself I am sent, to ask how it is you did not redden
your weapons yet upon the King of the World." "I swear by the oath of my
people," said Finn, "if I do not redden my weapons on him, I will crush
his body within his armour." "I have here for you, King of the Fianna,"
said Aedh then, "the deadly weapons that will bring him to his death;
and it was Labran of the Long Hand got them for you through his Druid
arts." He put them in Finn's hand then, and Finn took the coverings off
them, and there rose from them flashes of fire and deadly bubbles; and
not one of the Fianna could stay looking at them, but it put great
courage into them to know they were with Finn. "Rise up now," said Finn
to Fergus of the True Lips, "and go where the King of the World is, and
bid him to come out to the place of the great fight."